With Steve Daines going to his daughter’s wedding in Montana, that makes it 50-49.

Which means it would only take one more Republican defector — Flake? — to defeat Kavanaugh on the Senate floor. However, Daines says that he has congressman Greg Gianforte’s private plane ready to go to take him back to Washington, D.C. to cast his vote if something unexpected happens.

That would tie the vote at 50-50 and send it to Mike Pence for a Kavanaugh-confirming tiebreaker.

Republicans are not out of the woods yet, but their chances are looking a lot better.

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